(제10권 제1호) Korean Journal of General Education 2016. 3, Vol. 10, No. 1, PP. 185~218
Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos1)
Peter Lane2)·손승남3)
<목차>
1. Introduction 2. Literature Review 3. Research Methods 4. Results and Findings 5. Discussion 6. Conclusion and Suggestions
1. Introduction
Digital technologies are playing an increasing role in our daily lives. How we communicate and interact with one another has been transformed through social networking applications such as kakaotalk
1) 본 논문은 2015년 한국교양교육학회 추계학술대회에서 발표한 내용을 수정·보완한 것임. 2) 제1저자, 순천대학교, [email protected] 3) 교신저자, 순천대학교, [email protected]
185 186 ― (제10권 제1호) and Facebook or media sharing sites such as YouTube or Line. We comment, post, discuss, and share more of our lives and more of ourselves online than ever before and writing remains a key part of this sharing and communication. However, in spite of the potential of technology to transform our learning experiences (Laurillard, 2002), how we teach writing remains relatively unchanged. Learning how to write continues to be a frustrating or negative experience for many students and many teachers are overly dependent on approaches and methods which do not take students needs and previous learning experiences into account, which lack authenticity and purpose, and which do not develop students digital literacy skills. As suggested by
Brantley-Dias & Ertmer (2013), the keys to writing and learning in the 21st Century, such as creating digital media, collaborating with others, and communicating and sharing ideas in creative and engaging ways, requires 21st Century learning approaches. In response to the issues above, the aim of this research project is to use the process of creating animated videos to develop students’ academic writing skills in more authentic and meaningful ways. More specifically, the research project sought to explore the following questions: - How will creating an animated video impact the development of students’ academic writing skills? - How will creating an animated video impact students understanding of the topic? - Will students perceive creating an animated video as a more meaning and authentic approach to academic writing? Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 187
In essence, by working collaboratively in pairs to write a script on an educational topic and then using that script as a foundation when creating their animated videos, it is predicted that this activity will help students develop a deeper understanding of their chosen topic, develop their academic writing skills by scaffolding their learning, promote collaboration and peer feedback, and provide a more purposeful and authentic academic writing experience. Data was collected using an online survey, the student’s scripts/essays and animated videos, and an interview.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Approaches to writing essays
According to Hylands comprehensive review of teaching and researching writing (2009), there are three main approaches to writing essays which are relevant to this research project. The first approach, known as a product based approach to writing, is a traditional approach where the teacher presents essays or examples of good writing (products) to the class and the students then try to imitate or reproduce those essays. By getting students to copy or imitate many essays it is believed that students would eventually absorb or develop their own writing skills over time. However, it often encourages students to memorize many written texts or essays and reproduce these in high stakes exams. The second approach, a process based approach to writing, is the 188 ― (제10권 제1호) most widely used approach at universities around the world (Hyland,
2009; Nation, 2008; Nilson, 2010). Students learn about the different stages of composition (prewriting, first draft, revision, and publishing) as well as individual writing strategies and techniques such as brainstorming, planning, editing, reflecting, giving and receiving feedback, etc. In essence, students develop the strategies and techniques that expert writers use when composing (Barnard & Campbell, 2005). However, critics point out that the writing process fails to account for the learning preferences and experiences of students from more collectivist countries, it has become oversimplified and formalized into a narrow model suitable for tests, and it lacks focus on writing for authentic, meaningful contexts and purposes (Yancey, 2009; Hyland, 2009). Finally, a social based approach to writing focuses more on the purposes, goals and uses that the completed text may eventually fulfill. With this approach, writing becomes a social act, a way to communicate learning and ideas with others. Teachers should give students opportunities for peer feedback and develop contexts for writing which are authentic and purposeful where students are not just writing essays to get a grade but are writing essays in order to help others learn by communicating their ideas and understanding clearly. Publishing their ideas for their peers or other stakeholders better reflects the authentic writing tasks students will engage with in the real world. For example, teachers will need to communicate educational ideas and concepts or justify their pedagogical approaches and plans with other teachers, the principal, or parents and may do so in different contexts such as at school meetings, on a school blog or newsletter or Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 189 at seminars and conferences. In other words learning to communicate academic ideas clearly through writing helps students develop writing skills which they will use in the real world with real audiences. This approach is more difficult to introduce in high stakes testing situations.
2.2. Animated Videos and Academic Writing
A lot of research on animated videos relates to using animated videos to develop students understanding of the course content on distance and blended courses or increasingly on MOOCS (Guo et al, 2014;
Milne & Brown, 2011; Meyer, 2005). Some research has also been done on students creating their own videos to demonstrate their understanding of the course content (Bijnens et al, 2007; McGarr, 2009, Bell & Bull, 2010;
Cochrane & Bateman, 2010; 이일석, 2013; 2015). However, research on creating animated videos as a learning approach to develop students’ academic writing skills is still in its infancy as easy to use animation video tools such as PowToon, and VideoScribe have only recently been available (2012) and their most popular current uses are to deliver and share content related to education or business (Spitalnik, 2013) rather than specifically providing opportunities for students to improve their academic writing skills. However this does not have to be the case as creating animated video has a lot of similarities with writing an essay. The process of creating an animated video frames and scaffolds the processes, techniques, and strategies which students engage in when composing an essay such as researching their chosen topic, brainstorming collaboratively, giving and receiving pair feedback as 190 ― (제10권 제1호) well feedback from and to their classmates, revising, editing, organizing and supporting their ideas, etc. A good script mirrors a good academic essay as it usually includes an introduction and thesis statement, 3 or 4 topic sentences, and a conclusion. In their script students should explain and support their topic sentences or main ideas with relevant evidence, examples, or details. In other words, a good academic script contains the same features and qualities of a good academic essay. For the research project, students had to work in pairs and create an animated video on an educational topic. Students had to first explain their topic clearly and afterwards they had to explain how to apply their ideas in the classroom. This would allow students to develop their writing skills, help them to demonstrate their understanding of the course content and its practical application in the classroom and then share their learning and ideas with the rest of their peers. Having an authentic audience is one of the greatest strengths of creating and publishing animated videos online. Students are not just writing for their professor as they would in a more traditional writing class but they are also writing for a wider audience, which encourages students to ensure their topic and ideas are clear and easy to understand (Hyland,
2009). An additional advantage of creating animated videos is that animating the academic script allows students to engage more deeply with the ideas in the script by thinking about how to present those ideas in visual form (Meyer, 2005). To achieve this, students may also have to revise and improve their script as well as come up with creative and engaging ways to clearly communicate the content. Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 191
3. Research Methods
3.1. The Participants
The participants were 16 university students (3 male, 13 female) studying Intermediate English Composition at a national university in South Korea. Most of the students (81%) were pre-service teachers studying education, with the rest studying non education majors. One student was in her first year of studies, 9 students were in their second year, 5 students were in their third year and one student was in her final year. There was a mix of English levels and writing competencies in the class. Based on a pre-course survey 90% of students had not learned how to write an academic essay in high school and only 20% stated that they were able to write a thesis statement. 74% of the students stated they did not enjoy writing in English. These findings are in line with research on Korean students learning experiences, attitudes, and beliefs in general (OECD, 2009; 2014; Hyland, 2009; Shin, 2012).
3.2. Methodology
The main aim of the research project was to evaluate the impact of creating animated videos on students’ academic writing skills and competencies. Students worked collaboratively in pairs to write an academic essay or script on their chosen educational topic, narrate and record this script as an mp3 file, and then use this script/narration to create and build their animated video. The online video animation tool 192 ― (제10권 제1호)
Powtoons was chosen for this task because it is free, easy to use, and capable of producing professional looking animated videos. It uses a simple drop and drag interface and a timeline to help users create their animations. In appearance and use, it resembles Microsoft PowerPoint as users can create their video slide by slide (each slide is usually between
8 and 12 seconds in length). Students were provided with a handbook which contained guidelines and support for writing a quality academic script as well as screencasts which demonstrated the entire process. After creating and publishing their animated videos on YouTube, students had to assess and offer feedback on the animated videos of their classmates as well as on their partners’ performance during the project. The assignment was worth 30% of their final grade and it was calculated using a combination of peer and instructor assessment techniques. The script was worth 70% of the grade since their academic writing was the main focus and purpose of the assignment.
3.3. Methods
The research project used a mixed methods approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data instruments were used. First, an online pre-course survey was used to collect data about students’ background information and past learning experiences. An online post course survey was used to collect data related to the research project. Both surveys collected a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data by using Likert Scale multiple choice questions and open questions. Online surveys were chosen as they are easier to complete, easier Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 193 to administer, and allow students space to write as much as they want when answering the open questions (Cohen et. al., 2007). A one hour semi structured interview was used to collect qualitative data. The interview was transcribed and a thematic content analysis was undertaken to allow for closer examination of the data as well the identification of major themes, points and issues. The products of the project (the video, academic scripts, and peer feedback forms and comments) also provided valuable data about the students learning experiences during the research project. In particular, the students’ scripts were assessed using the same rubric as their previous academic essays, which made it easier to directly compare the new essays to students previous work.
4. Results and Findings
The data from the pre-course and post course surveys provided relevant and revealing insights. However, while the response rate for the pre-course survey was 100%, only 50% of students completed the post course survey. It is likely that students who enjoyed the course were the ones who responded afterwards, which may affect the reliability of the quantitative data. Furthermore, with some of the early questions, it cannot be known for certain whether changes in the responses of the students is due to creating animated videos or to other activities and assignments during the course (this is not the case with the post survey questions directly concerning animated videos). With these issues in mind, the survey data can still be included to form some general impressions of the students learning experiences during the research 194 ― (제10권 제1호) project. The qualitative interview data was analyzed using a thematic content analysis, based on the pragmatic approach described by
Burnard, Gill, Stewart, Treasure, & Chadwick (2008). An initial coding framework was created from the data, which was further reduced into final categories and themes as shown in the table below. This thematic content analysis helped to identify and organize the data into main themes and categories as well as guide and lend further understanding to the exploration and discussion of the findings.
4.1. Impact on the development of students’ academic writing skills
The online surveys provide some interesting insights. None of the students agreed that they learned how to write an academic essay in high school (12% were unsure and 88% disagreed), which seems to be one of the main reasons why university students have so much difficultly learning how to write academic essays in English at university. In addition, students reported that after the course writing remained difficult for them and made them anxious, which highlights the 196 ― (제10권 제1호) tremendous challenge students must try to overcome when learning how to write academic essays in English. The section of the post course survey relating to the creating of animated videos as well as the open questions reveals more relevant and valid data. 86% of respondents enjoyed creating animated videos. 57% agreed that creating animated videos improved their writing skills, and 86% of the written comments contained references to developments in their writing skills and competencies. From the thematic content analysis, two main positive themes relating to students writing skills are identified; creating animated videos helps students to focus on the main ideas when writing (x4) and also helps students to better communicate their ideas with their audience (x2). Improvements in students writing skills were also supported by a comparison between students’ animated video scripts and their previous essays. The majority of these scripts showed improvements in the clarity and organization of the writing compared to past essays. All the respondents agreed that using technology using is an effective approach for developing students writing skills and their written comments stated the assignment was very good for improving their technological skills; although half of the respondents also wrote that they did not always see the connection between creating the animated video and developing their writing skills, a point which was also clearly identified in the content analysis. The interviewee repeated made this point as a negative feature of the assignment. Students identified a lack of time, exam pressure, a lack of collaboration with their partner, and technological problems as the main challenges Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 197 they encountered when working on the assignment. Interestingly, the content analysis provides a deeper understanding of these issues. Challenges were categorized into two sections; task challenges and external challenges. Relating to the former, the lack of peer participation was the biggest challenge and caused a chain reaction of other negative effects including stress, negative feelings, and having to do the work alone. The time consuming nature of the activity and technical issues were also identified. However, the content analysis also showed that the majority of challenges were external and related to influencing factors outside of the assignment such as the pressure from other assignments (x5), a lack of time due to other classes and commitments (x3), exams (x2), and previous negative learning experiences of group tasks and assignments (lack of participation x2, stress x3, doing extra work x2).
4.2. Impact on students understanding of the topic
86% of students agreed that creating an animated video helped them to better understand their chosen topic. Pairs had to choose and research their topic before composing their collaborative essay. Since many of the educational topics were new or unfamiliar to the students, it was impressive that all of the essays showed a deep understanding of the chosen content. The online written comments supported these findings:“I really enjoyed making an animated video on this course. It was a new experience and it helped me to understand better with my topic because I could think more deeply when I was making the 198 ― (제10권 제1호) animation.” The thematic content analysis also showed that creating animated videos help students develop a better understanding of the topic (x3). In addition, the essays displayed a good understanding of pedagogy and practice since all of the students had to explain their topic clearly as well as explain how to apply their topic in practice or in real classroom situations.
4.3. Impact on students perception of collaborative learning approaches to writing
Although 72% agreed that the assignment helped them to improve their collaborative skills, fewer students (57%) agreed that working collaboratively on the assignment with her partner is an effective way to learn. The thematic content analysis offers further insight. Creating an animated video improves students collaborative skills as students can help each other (x4) and have more opportunities for peer teaching and support (x2). However, a lack of peer participation (x3) and the negative influence of students friendships on the validity of their peer evaluations (x2) were highlighted as concerns. The post survey open questions were more positive about the potential of using animated videos to effectively assess student learning. 86% of students agreed that creating animated videos is an effective way to assess student learning and 83% of the written comments mentioned the“positive effects” of collaborative assignments. Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 199
4.4. Impact on students technological skills
While 99.6% of Koreans under the age of 25 are considered digital natives (International Telecommunications Union, 2013), only 12% of respondents said they felt comfortable using a word processing programme before the course (56% were unsure) and 25% understood how to use technology to teach writing to their students, with 88% expressing a desire to learn how to do so. A positive result from the post course survey is that all the respondents agreed that creating an animated video developed their understanding of how to use technology to teach writing, a finding supported by the students written comments and the content analysis. In fact, this section of the content analysis (creating animated videos as a teaching approach) contained the most positive reoccurring themes (useful tool for students and teachers (x3), a rewarding experience (x3), an enjoyable task (x3), better understanding of topic (x3), and feelings of ownership (x2). To sum up, the data revealed that creating animated videos led to positive impacts and developments on students writing skills and competencies, particularly on writing more clearly and simply, and focusing and developing the main ideas. It also led to better understanding of the topic and was perceived as a rewarding and enjoyable experience. At the same time, the connection between writing their essay and creating their animated video was not always clear. Some students still felt that writing in English was difficult for them and not all students saw the benefits of creating animated videos on their collaborative or writing skills. All of the post course students 200 ― (제10권 제1호) felt that they understood how to use technology to teach writing as a result of the project and over half of the participants were planning to use animated videos to teach writing in their future classrooms and schools.
5. Discussion
5.1. Impact on the development of students’ academic writing skills
While it is not 100% possible to validate whether all the positive impacts on students writing skills and competencies were due solely to creating animated videos or due to the entire course, the research project did have some verifiable benefits on students’ academic writing skills. From the written comments, it is clear that students wrote more clearly and simply when composing and revising their script, which is also evident when comparing students scripts to their earlier essays. This is an important development since a lack of clarity and an overuse of academic language were problems students struggled with during the course. It is probable that writing for a wider and more authentic audience encouraged students to focus on the clarity of their writing and on making the essay easy to understand (Hyland, 2009; Nation, 2008;
Nilson, 2010). Students were taking a more social approach to writing by focusing on the purposes and goals of the text as well as engaging with their audience by making their ideas clear and easy to understand. Focusing on an authentic audience and on the purpose of their writing also makes the composing process more motivating and meaningful Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 201 for students, which can lead to increased feelings of autonomy, relatedness, and ultimately self-determination (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Making their writing clear did not just involve using clear language.
Students also provided more support (explanations, examples, or details) and organization in order to make their writing easier to understand, which was evident when assessing students scripts. Because students were explaining their topic and teaching ideas to an audience of non- experts (other teachers) who may not be aware of the topic, students included more support when compared to their previous essays. In other words, composing for animated videos can be a more purposeful and authentic approach to improving students writing skills, in particular their clarity of language, support, and organization.
5.2. Impact on students understanding of the topic
As previously mentioned 86% of students agreed that creating an animated video helped them to better understand their chosen topic. Writing has always been one of the best ways to learn more and develop understanding. As C.Day Lewis said“We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.” (BrainyQuote, 2015). Creating an animated video further deepens understanding for two main reasons, the first of which is related to purpose and audience. The project was designed so that the purpose of the assignment was to create an animated video for a more authentic and meaningful audience; their peers, first year pre-service teachers, and high school teachers or students. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn and 202 ― (제10권 제1호) to understand something because in order to teach someone about a topic, one must first have a good understanding of that topic. Therefore writing for non-experts and authentic audiences encouraged students to develop and deepen their own understanding of that topic and to share that understanding with their audience in a creative and engaging way. The popularity of watching and sharing videos on YouTube and Facebook shows that 21st Century audiences enjoy accessing content in visual or animated formats since they find it more engaging and enjoyable to view and share (Prensky, 2010). Therefore transforming academic writing into animated videos can be considered a 21st Century approach to writing and publishing for more authentic 21st Century audiences. Secondly, the process of creating an animated video based on their writing also enhances students understanding of the topic. Students have to write an academic script and then use that script as a foundation for their animated video. When creating the animated video, students have to think about and reflect on how to best represent their writing and ideas in visual and animated forms. This design process helps students to engage more deeply with their writing and to build connections between the content and visual representations of that content, which enhances and promotes learning, recall, and understanding (Brown et al, 2014; McGarr, 2009). Visually representing ideas also promotes creativity as students have to come up with interesting and novel animations to help explain the content and their ideas. Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 203
5.3. Impact on students perception of collaborative learning approaches to writing
Creating animated videos helped students to develop their collaborative skills. Students had to work together to research their topic, write their academic script, and create their animated video. Having successful collaborative learning experiences when writing is important since, with the exception of using GoogleDocs to promote collaborative academic writing experiences involving technology
(Kurts, 2015), there are currently very few other successful approaches. In addition, while there are collaborative elements and activities in more socially constructive approaches of the writing process (Barnard
& Campbell, 2005) most of the composing process remains an individual effort (Hyland, 2009). Collaboration during the writing process usually consists of brainstorming ideas and giving and receiving peer feedback. This research project was different since students had to collaboratively write the essay together, either by composing it together at the same time or by dividing the essay into different parts and each student writing different sections. Given the potential of creating animated videos as a collaborative approach to writing academic essays, it was disappointing that the comments in the survey were so mixed and that the content analysis highlighted peer help and support but not writing specifically. These results may have been caused by two factors. First, this was the students’ first collaborative writing task, so they were unused to writing collaboratively in pairs and would undoubtedly have encountered the difficulties and challenges which come from doing 204 ― (제10권 제1호) anything for the first time. More collaborative writing assignments on this course or other courses would allow students to further develop their collaborative writing skills. Second, as a final assignment, the project took place at the end of the course. This was just before the start of students final exams when the students were busy studying and revising and so they may not have had enough time to dedicate to the project. This lack of time was one of the main obstacles identified by the data. The most positive result related to collaborative learning was the use of creating animated videos as a way to assess students writing. From the comments it seems that students felt assessing their work in this way was fair and accurate. Collaborative assessments, such as on MOOCS, often takes the form of peer assessment where a student’s grade is completely dependent on the feedback of the other learners. While this can develop students’ feedback skills and be a more practical method of assessment in large classes, it can also be unfair and lead to inaccurate grades or comments depending on who is assessing the work. The other traditional form of assessment is to receive a grade solely from the professor. As mentioned earlier, while this is a more accurate method of assessment it means the assignment can lack authenticity and purpose. Writing for an audience of one can be less motivating than writing for a wider, more authentic audience (Nilson,
2010). The research project, on the other hand, used a combination of peer and professor assessment methods. Therefore, not only were students writing for a wider audience but they were also being assessed by a wider audience, which contributed to students positive Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 205 impressions of animated videos are a fair, accurate, effective and more meaningful assessment approach. In the real digital world, texts and products are often assessed or reviewed by a combination of experts and non-experts and more global audiences are reached by writing that is more global in its accessibility (by being clear and easy to understand).
5.4. Impact on students technological skills
All of the data supported the finding that the process of creating an animated video developed students technological skills. One of the main benefits of learning how to create animated videos is that it offers an alternative way to present students’ academic writing or ideas, a skill they can make use of in their other classes and in their future work environments. Due to a lack of time and resources, students did not learn how to use Powtoons in a computer lab but instead were provided with a user guide, an assignment handout, and screencasts. In recent years learning approaches have shifted from teaching students how to use specific technologies to doing something with those technologies so that students better understand the pedagogy, learning approaches and learning process behind the use of the technology rather than just how to use the technology itself. Doing so also prepares students to use the technology or tool in more real world situations. This was the approach taken on this research project, where the focus for students was not on learning how to use Powtoons but on learning how to present their academic writing in novel and engaging ways in order to help others learn about educational topics. 206 ― (제10권 제1호)
One of the main obstacles for teachers to integrate technology effectively in the classroom is a lack of self-efficacy (Brantley-Dias &
Ertmer, 2010; Alayyar et al, 2012). When teachers lack the technological skills or competencies to use a technology they may be reluctant to introduce it into their classroom. Even when teachers know how to use a tool, they may lack the pedagogical knowledge to use that technology to enhance students learning experiences. Successful learning experiences help teachers to develop their pedagogical and technological knowledge so that they use that learning and understanding in their own classrooms. In other words, successful learning experiences as a student leads to successful teaching experiences as a teacher and the best way to deeply understand an approach is to learn using that approach.
For the project, it was also hoped that successful experiences of a collaborative and constructivist learning approach to writing would help students develop the pedagogical and technological knowledge behind that approach so that they would be more likely to implement Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 207 it with their own students and in their own classrooms. The data reveals that students did develop their technological and pedagogical knowledge. They understood both how to do it and why. However, the depth of this understanding remains untested. In addition, only half of the students were willing to use the approach as teachers in their future classrooms. Why was this response not higher? It is possible that students’ perceptions of their future work environment discouraged them from implementing the approach in the future. Students are aware that newly qualified teachers are under a lot of pressure to conform by their colleagues to the existing practices and learning approaches at the school (Shin, 2012). To overcome such resistance pre-service teachers must develop the self-efficacy and confidence to believe in themselves and in their learning approaches and this occurs through successful learning experiences at university. On the research project, a number of issues may have interfered with this aim. The most easily identified was a lack of time, due to the students heavy work load. The second issue was a lack of practice. Students only had one experience of creating animated videos on the course. If given more opportunities it is likely their skills and self-efficacy would improve even more.4)
4) Examples of students’s work: Flow (https://youtu.be/v4uOE_rOW0k) Lifelong Learning (https://youtu.be/xsydiTxs_NQ) 208 ― (제10권 제1호)
6. Conclusion and Suggestions
6.1. Conclusion
This research project set out to explore the feasibility of students’ collaboratively creating animated videos to develop their writing skills. It also evaluated the impacts on students’ understanding of their topic, their collaborative skills, and their technological skills. It must be remembered that the research project had limitations, as every research project has. It was small scale, involved only one writing class, and students only completed one assignment involving writing and animation. More data would help further validate and understand the findings and conclusions explored during the research project. Nonetheless, the project did yield valuable insights which may guide others in developing a more social and authentic approach to academic writing in the 21st Century. So what did we learn during this research project? We know from the data that writing academic scripts and transforming them into animated videos did improve students writing skills, collaborative skills, technical skills, and understanding of the educational content. The areas which showed the biggest improvements were students’ clarity of writing, their awareness of audience, supporting their ideas, understanding their topic, and using animated videos as an alternative method of assessment. Students still had issues with brainstorming, writing anxiety, collaborating effectively, and fully understanding the learning approach. Most of these issues were caused by a lack of familiarity with the approach and Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 209 exam pressure and were not the fault of the students themselves. In fact, they learned and achieved a great deal in spite of the challenges and limitations they faced, which is evidence that the approach can work even in high pressure contexts. In the 21st Century students need 21st Century writing approaches which are meaningful, authentic, and leverage technology to enhance learning and writing. Students should be writing not just to get a grade but for real purposes and real people. Their writing and ideas don’t have to just stay in a folder but can be presented and shared online in creative and engaging ways. Writing also does not have to be a solitary endeavor but can be undertaken with other students who will support and scaffold each other’s learning as they grow in self-efficacy, mastery, confidence, and autonomy. In the real world technological skills and writing skills are becoming more and more valued yet in an academic writing classroom they remain at a distance or only meet occasionally. Creating animated videos as a learning approach to develop students’ academic writing skills is one attempt to bring more of the world into the writing classroom and to let students share more of their writing, their ideas, and themselves with the world beyond the classroom. Animating academic writing encourages students to more deeply understand and care about what they write and to develop the skills not only to write better but to teach writing better as well.
6.2. Suggestions
From the experiences of the students and the data obtained, the 210 ― (제10권 제1호) following suggestions are offered for any future research project involving the creation of animated videos to enhance students’ writing skills: First, provide a low stakes or non-graded assignment early in the course to give students the opportunity to learn the processes, steps, and ideas involved in presenting their writing in animated form. Second, provide sufficient scaffolding and support for students to develop their writing skills and competencies (Nation, 2008; Nilson, 2010).
This scaffolding can take the form of resources (guides, handouts, and screen casts) or practice writing opportunities (individual and collaborative writing activities inside or outside the class). This is especially the case for brainstorming which students identified as challenging for them. The writing activities would help students develop their writing skills and competencies while helping to reduce their anxiety. It would help make up for the lack of successful writing experiences students have in high school and university. Third, make the assignment even more meaningful and authentic by finding or creating a more authentic audience such as other pre- service teachers, professors, local high school teachers and students, or experts and non-experts from the local community including business owners, graphic designers, animators, or parents (Hyland, 2009; Patton,
2012; OCED, 2010). A real world audience would add more purpose to the assignment and motivate students to create educational animated videos which have value and help others to learn. A YouTube Channel could be created for the videos which could act as learning resources for the respective stakeholders. Local expert guests such an artists, Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 211 animators, or graphic designers could teach students about techniques and ideas which they could use to enhance their videos. These guests could also be involved in grading the students’ videos once they are published online and as well as providing useful and motivating feedback. The YouTube channel could also provide future students with examples of high quality work. Forth, investigate the approach for shorter essays and whether the approach is suitable for writing longer academic essays. Fifth, investigate the potential of writing academic scripts and transforming these into live action videos. Students could act in and shoot their own educational videos or documentaries based entirely or partly on an academic essay that they have written. Comparisons could be made for writing academic scripts for live educational videos and animated educational videos to see which approach students prefer or which one causes the biggest improvement in students’ academic writing. While the scripts for both could be the same, creating animated videos using Powtoon is potentially easier and less time consuming. Sixth, explore and conduct research on using alternative animation tools and programmes to enhance students writing skills. One tool with great potential is VideoScribe, which animates a hand drawing objects or people in conjunction with a narration (a free version with restrictions is available for download from their website). Video Scribing, the term used to describe this process, has become very popular both in the field of education (as educational videos) and in business (for advertising purposes). For example, a video scribe created by RSA Animate and narrated by Sir Ken Robinson has over 12 million views on YouTube 212 ― (제10권 제1호)
(YouTube, 2015). Proof of how engaging and effective video scribing is lies in its adoption by businesses and organizations. This also makes using it in the classroom an authentic and meaning tool for learning and creating since it reflects current real world uses. While most businesses and organizations hire professional design and animation companies to produce their online content and videos, free tools like Powtoon and Videoscribe allow teachers and students to design and produce their own professional looking animated videos. These tools have great potential for engaging students and enhancing learning inside or outside the classroom and for providing teachers with a tool which can use to create their own customised learning content. As with this research project, the true educational potential and power of Videoscribe, Powtoon, or any other technological tool is unleashed when it is put in the hands of students to create, share, and learn (Milne
& Brown, 2011). Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 213
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※ 이 논문은 2016년 2월 20일에 투고 완료되어 2016년 2월 26일 편집위원회에서 심사위원을 선정한 뒤 2016년 3월 12일까지 심사를 완료하여 2016년 3월 21일 편집위원회에서 게재가 결정된 논문임. 216 ― (제10권 제1호)
◆ Abstract ◆
Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos
Lane, Peter(Sunchon National University)
Son, Seung-Nam(Sunchon National University)
This research project critically explores creating educational animated videos as a learning approach for pre-service teachers to develop their academic writing skills. The course took place in the English Education Department of a national public university in Korea, where students are studying to graduate as public school teachers. The process of creating animated videos was used as a scaffold to develop pre-service teachers’ academic writing skills and techniques and to add more authenticity and purpose to their current writing experiences. Results from online surveys, interviews, a thematic content analysis and students’ written work indicated creating animated videos had positive impacts on students’ writing skills, especially in writing clearly, focusing on the main ideas, and supporting those ideas with explanations and examples. The data also showed that students developed a greater awareness of audience and sense of purpose. However, time restrictions, technical challenges, and previous learning experiences remain issues to be addressed in future research. In the meantime, this research project shows that creating animated videos holds great promise as a learning approach to develop students’ writing skills and to give pre-service teachers more meaningful and authentic learning Animating Academic Writing Skills Through Creating Animated Educational Videos ― 217 experiences of a 21st century approaches to writing.
◆ 초록 ◆
교육용 애니메이션 영상 제작을 활용한 영어 글쓰기 역량 강화
피터 레인(순천대학교)
손승남(순천대학교)
본 연구는 예비교사들의 영어 글쓰기 역량을 강화하기 위한 학습법으로 서의 교육용 애니메이션 영상 제작 프로젝트를 비판적으로 검토하고 있다. 이 프로젝트는 실제로 미래에 공립학교 교사로 진출할 한 국립 대학교의 영어교 육과 학생들을 대상으로 수행된 것이다. 교육용 애니메이션 영상 제작 과정 은 예비교사의 영어 글쓰기 역량을 개발하기 위한 수단으로, 한걸음 더 나아가 자신의 현재 글쓰기 경험에 진정성과 목적성을 더하기 위한 수단으로 활용되 었다. 온라인 설문조사, 인터뷰, 주제별 내용 분석과 실제 학생들의 글쓰기 결과 로 볼 때 교육용 애니메이션 영상 제작이 학생들의 글쓰기 역량 강화에 긍정 적 영향을 준 것으로 나타났다. 특히 명확한 글쓰기, 주제에 집중하기, 자신의 생각을 설명과 예시로 뒷받침하는 능력 면에서 향상을 보였다. 수집된 데이터 분석 결과 학생들은 독자에 대한 지각과 목적의 의식에서도 놀라운 성취를 보 였다. 하지만 시간의 제약, 기술적 한계, 사전 경험 학습의 문제는 후속 연구에서 극복되어야 할 것으로 보인다. 결론적으로 본 연구는 교육용 애니메이션 영상 제작이 학생들의 영어 글쓰기 능력 향상을 위한 적절한 학습 방법이 될 수 있 으며, 예비교사로 하여금 보다 의미있고 진정성 있는 21세기형 글쓰기 전략의 학습경험을 제공할 수 있음을 보여 주고 있다.
<주제어> 글쓰기 기술, 애니메이션 영상, 학습법, 예비교사, 학습경험